The buying process of a property in Spain
Thinking of buying a property in Spain? Then it is important that you are optimally prepared. Gert Reypens Team by Keller Williams is ready for you with advice and tips to guide you through the entire purchase process, in your own language.
The Spanish buying process can be divided into various stages. These are summarised below:
PHASE 1: viewing phase
The first step is to make a well-considered choice from the wide range available in Spain. The budget you can or want to free up naturally determines this choice. By the way, did you know that Spanish registration duties on the resale of an existing property are the same as Spanish VAT on new-build properties, both are 10%.
Buying a property is slightly different from going out to buy a loaf of bread. So we recommend working with a trustworthy estate agent because he/she knows the available properties inside out and can also advise and assist you during the viewing phase and throughout the purchase procedure. You can compare your estate agent to an air traffic controller who ensures that all parties involved can board, take off and land smoothly and safely.
PHASE 2: decision phase
If you choose a resale property, it is very common that you first pay a deposit of €3,000 or €6,000 (purchase price lower or higher than €100,000) to your estate agent's office in order to make an offer. This underlines the seriousness of your offer to the seller and will of course be refunded immediately if your offer is not accepted by the seller. If you suddenly bid the asking price, your bid is of course automatically accepted and a reservation contract is drawn up.
For newly built houses, a reservation contract will be drawn up immediately after your verbal confirmation of purchase. Here too, an amount of in principle
6,000€ must be transferred immediately.
PHASE 3: legal investigation and administrative formalities
The moment the reservation contract is drawn up, the administrative legal procedure of your purchase starts. It is very important to hire a professional Spanish lawyer. Your estate agent can also advise you here. The administrative legal procedure involves a whole series of steps in a highly bureaucratic environment. But even though they are many different steps, these steps are taken in quick succession. Thus, the purchase procedure of a resale property can be completed very quickly, within two months is very common.
As the first step of this procedure, your lawyer will draft a private purchase agreement. The moment this agreement is drawn up, you will have to pay 10% of the purchase price at short notice (within about a month).
Unlike Belgian and Dutch notaries, a Spanish notary only intervenes during the execution of the notarial deed (escritura). A Spanish notary does not do any legal research at all to check, for example, that all building permits are in order and that there are no overdue payments and debts. All this work is done by your lawyer to ensure that you never get any unpleasant surprises.
As an example, your lawyer will make sure that if there is a mortgage established on your purchased property, it will definitely be cancelled and thus in no way transfer to you with the purchased property.
In addition to the legal investigation, the lawyer will also arrange a whole series of practical aspects for you together with your estate agent: very specifically, applying for your NIE number (each owner must have their own NIE number), opening a Spanish bank account, transferring denutilities, getting quotes for home insurance,... .
PHASE 4: after-sales
The moment the notarial deed is executed in Spain, you will be given a copia simple, i.e. a first provisional copy of the notarial deed (escritura) at the notary's office.
After the deed is executed, the key is handed over and you can start enjoying your dream home under the Spanish sun.
Behind the scenes, your lawyer will take a few more steps, such as the official registration of your new home in your name in the Spanish land register and the declaration of VAT (new construction) or Spanish registration duties. After a few months, you will receive the original escritura via your lawyer or estate agent.
Would you like more information on the different steps of the purchase process? Do not hesitate to contact us.
Gert.Reypens@kwspain.es
+34 618 468 000 (Whatsapp)
